[Bhopal, India; November 29. Image via Getty]

BHOPAL, INDIA - NOVEMBER 29: A woman burns fuel near the Union Carbide factory on November 29, 2009 in Bhopal, India. Twenty-five years after an explosion causing a mass gas leak, in the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, killed at least eight thousand people, toxic material from the biggest industrial disaster in history continues to affect Bhopalis. A new generation is growing up sick, disabled and struggling for justice. The effects of the disaster on the health of generations to come, both through genetics, transferred from gas victims to their children and through the ongoing severe contamination, caused by the Union Carbide factory, has only started to develop visible forms recently. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

[Mumbai, November 25. Image via Getty]

A woman mourns as members of the Jewish orthodox Chabad Lubavitch movement of New York attend a memorial service in memory of victims of last year's terror attacks, at the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai on November 25, 2009. A total of 166 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured when 10 heavily-armed Islamist militants stormed the city on November 26, 2008, attacking a number of sites, including the city's main railway station, two luxury hotels, a popular tourist restaurant and a Jewish centre. AFP PHOTO/ Indranil MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

[Mumbai, November 23. Image via Getty]

To go with India-attacks-1year-child by Phil Hazlewood In a picture taken on November 23, 2009 Indian Viju Lakshman Chavan (R) holds her baby daughter Tejaswini (L), who is nicknamed 'Goli', 'Bullet' in Hindi because she was born during the Mumbai attacks last year, in the Colaba Woods Garden in Mumbai. Viju went into labour at the city's Cama and Albless Hospital on November 26, 2008, just as two heavily armed gunmen began stalking the building's corridors and eight others laid siege to India's financial capital. Tejaswini, already two weeks early, couldn't wait. She was born at 10.55 pm, about one hour after the gunmen took up position in the hospital. AFP PHOTO/ Indranil MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

[Washington, D.C., November 23. Image via Getty]

US President Barack Obama stands with First Lady Michelle Obama shortly before greeting Indian President Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at the North Portico of the White House November 24, 2009, as the Obamas host thier first official State Dinner. AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

And yet, because of the wish for more opportunities in the west, women continue to enter into the marriages - in many cases, the parents spend all their savings to raise the traditonal dowry. As one women's rights activist estimates, "There are 15,000 to 20,000 abandoned brides in India."

Tracking down the men is complicated and expensive. The Indian government has, says the BBC, "set up a department to provide assistance to the thousands of women who live in hope of being reunited with their husbands." But the odds aren't good. As a Canadian report found, "Exasperated police, faced with hundreds of such cases, were resorting to a mix of threats and family counseling sessions to reunite couples or at least get some of the dowries back."

Indian 'Holiday Brides' Abandoned By British Husbands On The Rise [BBC]
Abandoned Brides: A Province Special Investigation [Canada.com]
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Indian Brides, Marrying to Go Abroad, Often Find Themselves Abandoned at Home [VOA]

[Mumbai, November 23. Image via Getty]

Ten year-old Devika Rotawan, a survivor of the November 2008 militant attacks, walks with the help of crutches after a protest against the lone surviving attacker Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, in Mumbai on November 23, 2009. Rotawan who was hit on the leg by a bullet when Kasab and his accomplice opened fire at the Mumbai's Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus(CST) railway station on November 26 last year, killing 52 people, took part in the symbolic of hanging an effigy of Kasab along with people from various walks of life. AFP PHOTO/Indranil MUKHERJEE (Photo credit should read INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images)

[Noida, India; November 19. Image via Getty]

Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak tragedy and activists look on during a protest outside the Dow Chemicals office in Noida, around 40kms from New Delhi, on November 19, 2009. Three thousand seven hundred people died immediately in the world's worst industrial disaster in 1984 when gas leaked from a pesticides plant owned by the U.S. multinational Union Carbide in Bhopal. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA (Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Although a 2006 law prohibits girls from marrying before 18 (and men, 21) nearly half of all young girls in India are, in fact, married before this age, and child-welfare activists estimate that one-third of all child marriages take place in India. Because the punishment (when the law is enforced, which critics charge is infrequently) falls on guardians and the marriage is subject to annulment in a culture where purity is still valued, many such marriages have gone underground. Marriages are now required to be registered - but this has led to a thriving market in forged birth certificates.

The rationale is not just rooted in tradition; for poor families in rural areas, the groom's settlement is a powerful financial incentive. Marrying a daughter off means one less mouth to feed. And once married, a woman can often work and generate a little income. To offset this, the government is providing financial incentives for those girls who marry after 18. And, as the Times explains, activists are "organizing "wait till you're 18" parades, eliciting pledges, presenting puppet shows and lobbying holy men to stop officiating at underage marriages." Some charities actually lobby the individual families, talking about the benefits of education. Of course, as UNICEF pointed out in a 2009 report, "to be truly effective, these interventions must exist within an environment supportive of women's rights." But the fact that a few girls brave enough to refuse marriage have found support from their communities is heartening. Rekha Kalindi, a 13-year-old whose refusal to marry gained national attention, has become a rallying point and an inspiration.

But the bigger problem is that concerns are also "moral." As one father in the LAT article puts it, "I know the government says we should marry at 18, but even at 12 or 15, it's difficult to keep a girl's honor. And by 18, if unmarried, they get crazy thoughts." Of course, early marriage can lead to "crazy thoughts" too - girls who are basically children themselves are often unable to bond with or mother new babies. And the physical problems - girls under 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth, not least because their marriages are often secret and tend to take place in poor communities - are legion.

Bucking the system is dangerous, too. Says the LAT,

Those trying to change this system can find themselves under attack, one reason activists tend to cite the damage to girls' health and future earnings rather than combat the practice head-on. In 1992, Bhanwari Devi, a village woman working for a nonprofit group, was gang-raped after she tried to prevent a child marriage. The accused men were acquitted on the grounds that "upper caste men, including a Brahmin, would not rape a woman of a lower caste," according to the court ruling. The decision has been appealed.

And in India, a culture that traditionally prizes parental respect, disobeying on such a scale is a very big deal. As Kalindi's mother put it, "parents have the right to control their children." And, activists would add, the duty to protect them.

More Girls In India Are Refusing To Become Child Brides [LA Times]

Related: Child Marriages Targeted In India [BBC]
Child Marriages In India: UNICEF [The Hindu]
High Prevalence Of Child Marriage In India Fuels Fertility Risks [Science Daily]
Child Marriages Persist In Rural India [Asian Tribune]
Fight Against Child Marriages In India [MeriNews]
Girl's Refusal To Be Child Bride Inspires Nation [ABC]
Young Girls Refusal To Marry Inspires Millions [Bizzom]

[Ahmedabad, November 12. Image via Getty]

A young Indian woman wipes her eyes after seeing off a relative at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on November 12, 2009. A first batch from Gujarat state of more than 400 pilgrims left for Mecca in Saudi Arabia, with about 160,000 Indian Muslims expected to undertake the Haj pilgrimage this year, either with government assistance or through private tour operators. AFP PHOTO/ Sam PANTHAKY (Photo credit should read SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images)

In fact, the so-called "third sex" have a storied and respected history in India, occupy their own caste, and were traditionally the companions of queens. But nowadays, hijras - a term that today includes eunuchs, the intersex, transgender individuals, transvestites and self-identifying "third-gender" communities - are the object of discrimination. The estimated 200,000 hijras in India are frequently cast out by their families, forced to leave the educational system and are reduced to begging and sex work. Says the Times of India,

Hijras have few rights and are not recognized by Indian law. Except for the state of Tamil Nadu that has sanctioned special toilets - and a database to map the population of transgenders in the state and find out detailed demands such as ration cards and voter identity cards - they are denied the right to vote, own property, marry and the right to claim formal identity through any official documents such as a passport.

But, as Kalki Subramanian, the founder of the site and a gender-rights activist, explains to the Times of London, "It wasn't always like this...Only in the past 200 years, under the British, did we become too narrow minded." (The British government classified hijras as "a breach of public decency" and were deemed a "criminal tribe.") She adds, "Many of us would like to marry men; most of us would like to have children, to adopt...But for too long, because of our place in society, these have been distant dreams. People think of us as sexual perverts or clowns."

While "hijras" are represented in some same-sex dating sites, this is the first matrimonial site in the world for self-identifying hijras hoping to meet and marry men. The site states, "transsexual women by birth may not be physically women. But, by soul and heart, we are real women." And as is clear, starting it out of Madras is a major statement. Of course, the fact that the site is explicitly geared towards the population - one could argue, ghettoized - is a double-edged sword: hijras are still very much a group apart. And while the site is a designated safe space that seeks to promote larger discussion of gender identity and discrimination, it still only lists six perspective "brides." And yet, those women boast flattering head-shots and profiles (in Tamil) and their courage has reaped results: as the Times of London tells us, the site has attracted "more than 350 proposals of marriage from men in India, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the US and the Middle East." While one imagines not all the inquiries are serious - or savory - one can only hope that at least one relationship will result in the Valentine's Day wedding the site's founder envisions. And the site is explicit when it issues its challenge to prospective grooms:

Are you a man who believes in equality? Do you respect women and believe in eliminating oppression and exclusion based on gender? Are you someone who is against caste system and dowry? Will you treat your wife as a friend and an equal partner in your life? If so, the transsexual women you find on these pages are looking for life partners.

World's First Matrimonial Site For Transsexuals [Times Of India]

Eunuch Marriage Website Paves Way For Third Gender Comeback In India [TimesUK]
<a href="">Thirunangai.net
World's First Matrimonial Site For Transsexual Women [IndiaServer.com]
documentary [YouTube]
Eunuchs — India's Third Gender [ThingsAsian]

[Tawang, India; November 11. Image via Getty]

An Indian woman listens as Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks at a gathering at Yid-Gha-Choezin in Tawang, in the northwestern corner of Arunachal Pradesh state, on November 11, 2009. The Dalai Lama said religious 'duty' compelled him to make his visit to a Buddhist region near India's disputed Himalayan border with Tibet that has infuriated China. AFP PHOTO/Diptendu DUTTA (Photo credit should read DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/Getty Images)

[New Delhi, November 10. Image via Getty]

A physically disabled Indian girls holds a prosthetic limb during a free prosthetic limb distribution event in New Delhi on November 10, 2009. Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahyata Samiti, the world's largest charitable limb-fitting organisation, distributed artificials limbs, caliphers and crutches to the physically challenged. AFP PHOTO/ Prakash SINGH (Photo credit should read PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images)

[Tawang, India; November 9. Image via Getty]

Elderly Buddhist women wait to catch a glimpse of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Tawang, in the northwestern corner of Arunachal Pradesh state on November 9, 2009. The Dalai Lama held a mass audience with tens of thousands of devotees November 9 on a 'non-political' visit to a region near India's border with Tibet that has drawn shrill protests from China. AFP PHOTO/Diptendu DUTTA (Photo credit should read DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/Getty Images)

[New Delhi, October 28. Image via Getty]

Indian actress Urmila Matondkar (C) presents a creation by Indian designer Jaya Rathore during the Wills India Fashion Week (WIFW) Spring Summer 2010 in New Delhi on October 28, 2009. The Wills India Fashion Week Spring Summer 2010 runs from October 24 to 28. AFP PHOTO/ Manpreet ROMANA (Photo credit should read MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/Getty Images)

[New Delhi, October 29. Image via Getty]

To go with India-religion-Sikhs-unrest-Gandhi-25yrs,FOCUS by Elizabeth Roche Indian Sikh woman Gurdeep Kaur poses while a portrait of family members who died during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is seen on a wall at her residence in New Delhi on October 29, 2009. For Gurdeep Kaur, this weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the day she saw her son burnt alive during an orgy of anti-Sikh violence sparked by the killing of India's then prime minister. Kaur is one of countless women widowed by the anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi and elsewhere that raged for four days following Gandhi's killing on October 31, 1984, claiming at least 2,700 lives. As India gears up to mark Gandhi's 25th death anniversary, wounds left by the violence are far from being healed, with many still waiting for those accused of inciting the violence to be brought to justice. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA (Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

[London, October 29. Image via Getty]

LONDON - OCTOBER 29: Tourists and onlookers poke their heads through the gates of Buckingham Palace during the launch of the XIX Commonwealth games at Buckingham Palace October 29, 2009 in London. The Indian President and her husband, Dr Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, are concluding their three-day state visit to the UK during which they have stayed in Windsor Castle. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett - WPAPool/Getty Images)

• The suspects range in age from 15 to 21 and included a 17-year-old boy who turned himself in and a former Richmond High School student. Richmond, California Police Lt. Mark Gagan said, "These suspects are monsters. And, I don't understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behavior could be in one place at one time." • A lawyer for Susan Finkelstein, the Phillies fan accused of offering sex for World Series tickets, said her post on Craigslist saying she'd get "creative" with payment, "was a variation of 'will work for food.' It doesn't mean she was a prostitute.'" Attorney William Brennan denied an undercover police officer's claim that she offered him sex for tickets and added, "You're talking about a 43-year-old woman who was overcome by Phillies fever. All she was looking to do was take her husband to a World Series game. You know that Madonna movie Desperately Seeking Susan? This was Susan Desperately Seeking.'" • Edward Ates of Florida testified in court today that he couldn't have killed his son-in-law because he is too fat to commit the crime. Paul Duncsak, who was in a child custody dispute with Ates daughter, was shot in his home in 2006. Ates says he weighed 285 lbs at the time and wouldn't have had the energy needed to climb and descend the staircase where prosecutors say the killer was perched when he shot Duncsak. • A Utah judge has sentenced 21-year-old Leo Harrison to prison for accepting $150 from a pregnant girl to help her kill her fetus. Harrison was facing 21 years in prison for pleading guilty to second-degree felony attempted murder, but the judge sentenced him on a charge of third-degree "attempted killing of an unborn child" under Utah's anti-abortion statute, which means he could serve up to 20 years in prison.The woman, who gave birth to a healthy baby, pleaded no contest to second-degree felony criminal solicitation to commit murder for paying Harrison to assault her. • Using forceps if a woman is having difficulty during the "pushing" stage of labor has fallen out of favor, but a new study found that trying forceps instead of immediately performing a C-section does not raise the risks to the baby in most cases. A study of 3,200 women who had an unplanned C-section found that when cases in which there was already a problem with the fetal heart rate were excluded, the rate of complications were the same whether forceps were tried before a C-section or not. • While many Indian women are acting as surrogate mothers, more than half a million Indian women die every year due to pregnancy complications, despite government programs guaranteeing free obstetric care. According to Human Rights Watch, India is doing a poor job of monitoring how maternal health programs are implemented. UNICEF estimates that for every maternal death, there are 20 to 30 cases of other complications including obstetric fistulae, uterine prolapse, infertility, vaginal scarring, and sepsis. • A Spanish study of contraceptive use by 11,000 women from 14 European countries found that after condoms, the pill is the most popular contraceptive method. IUDs are the most popular long-acting contraceptive, but only 10% of women surveyed use them and most are over 30 years old. • Scientists at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain say they've figured out the secret behind Mona Lisa's smile. They say the smile depends on what cells in the retina pick up the image. Sometimes the image is transmitted to the brain on one channel and you see the smile and sometimes another channel takes over and you won't see it. • In a session on grieving during The Women's Conference in California, Maria Shriver said she's been telling people she's OK since her mother's death two months ago but, "the real truth is that I'm not fine... The real truth is that my mother's death has brought me to my knees. I had feared this my entire life... She was my hero, my role model, my very best friend. I spoke to her every single day of my life. I tried really hard when I grew up to make her proud of me." • According to a UC Irvine study, 30 percent of Americans have a gene variant that is linked to performing 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it. Previous studies have found that in people with a BDNF gene variant, which supports communication among brain cells, a smaller portion of the brain is stimulated when doing a task than in people with a normal BDNF gene. • Check out Live Science's guide to everything you always wanted to know about constipation but were afraid to ask here. (Paging Tracie Egan.) • Accused murderer Drew Peterson is suing JP Morgan Chase because he says the company violated truth-in-lending laws by cutting off his home-equity credit line in May. He says he is now unable to post bond and pay his lawyers, and said if his accounts remain frozen he'll ask the court to approve taxpayer money to fund his defense. • Germany's Lutheran Church Margot Kaessman is one of only two women to serve as bishop in Germany's Protestant church. • Indiana University researchers studied workplace politics at an urban elementary school and found that people who are targets of gossip are negatively evaluated during formal work meetings, but gossip can be derailed by changing the subject, targeting someone else for criticism, or by pre-emptive comments that are positive. "When you're sitting in that business meeting, be attentive to when the talk drifts away from the official task at hand to people who aren't present," said sociologist Tim Hallett. "Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics... that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren't present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone's reputation." • Sasha and Malia Obama were given the H1N1 vaccine last week after it was made available for D.C. schoolchildren. The President and First Lady still haven't been vaccinated. • Sarah Palin has responded to Levi Johnston's claim on CBS' Early Show that she repeatedly referred to her son Trig as "retarded" saying, "Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad... Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention." • Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, says it was inappropriate for him to call Federal Reserve advisor Linda Robertson a "K Street whore." "I offer my sincere apology," Grayson said in a statement. "I did not intend to use a term that is often, and correctly, seen as disrespectful of women." • The Australian Sex Party has nominated Marianna Leishman (a.k.a. Zahra Stardust), for a December election to fill a vacant seat in the Australian House of Representatives. Leishman is a feminist writer/pole dance instructor who has worked at the United Nations and has a law degree. She said in a statement, "In an area that claims 50 years of conservative representation from white, heterosexual, able-bodied, suited, male protagonists, the Australian Sex Party is excited to provide a modern, outward looking female candidate." On her agenda is legalizing gay marriage and abortion, examining child sex abuse in religious institutions, and pushing for more sex education in schools. •

[New Delhi, October 27. Image via Getty]

Models are made up backstage during the Wills India Fashion Week (WIFW) Spring Summer 2010 in New Delhi on October 27, 2009.The Wills India Fashion Week Spring Summer 2010 runs from October 24 to 28. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA (Photo credit should read MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

[London, October 27. Image via Getty]

Children wave Indian and British flags as they await a Ceremonial Welcome by Queen Elizabeth II for India's President Pratibha Patil as she begins a State Visit to Britain in Windsor, on October 27, 2009. Indian President Pratibha Patil received a red-carpet welcome from Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday at the start of a three-day state visit to former colonial power Britain. Patil, the first Indian woman to be elected to the ceremonial role, was taken in a state carriage procession to the Queen's Windsor Castle, where she will stay during the trip and where she was treated to a Guard of Honour. AFP PHOTO/BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

[Hyderabad, October 27. Image via Getty]

Ten-month old B. Lakshmi, who successfully underwent pediatric cardiac surgery, is cared for by her mother at South Asia's first exclusive children's heart hospital in Hyderabad on October 27, 2009. Nearly 152 000 children are born with cardiac conditions in India every year. AFP PHOTO / Noah SEELAM (Photo credit should read NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)